Could you elobarate on what makes Kung Lao S-tier? Kung lao should be max low A-tier imo
General speaking, Kung Lao has a solid combination of offense (i.e., plus on block poke and sweep along with an un-reactable overhead from neutral, which is rare in this game), defense (i.e., long range armor, which is safe with two bars, and controllable armor, which has good utility ), projectiles (i.e., instant aerial buzzsaw and hat toss), damage (particularly after b+2,4 and 2,1,2), up close block punishment (i.e., b+1 against -7 attacks), and mobility (i.e., whiffed dive kick).
You are correct that Kung Lao may not be S tier because he is evidently not as good as characters like Havik, Homelander, and Sindel. Aside from projectiles and armor, he has limited range in footsies, which is problematic against characters like Homelander and Sindel, who have exceptional long range buttons. Furthermore, match ups in which Kung Lao gets out-zoned, such as versus Cyrax or Sub Zero, albeit not super top tier characters, are also problematic. However, if Kung Lao is your main character, there are kameos other than Sektor to use and explore. For example, I like to use Mavado against Sub Zero (the character or kameo) because back kameo can punish ice clone after strings or in the neutral.
Considering the recent two major offline tournaments, discussing what we have learned is significantly more productive than incessantly insulting each other for an entire page. After watching Foxy last weekend, I believe that Sektor is better than I initially thought. I have been using Sektor/Sonya in Kombat League and I have had some success.